Chapter 84 | The Good Man's War (Part 1) (Patreon)

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Accompanied by a noisy sound and flashes of light, Stark stood in front of the interview stage. As soon as he settled, dozens of microphones immediately reached out to him. He lowered his hand to signal them to calm down.

"Hello, Mr. Stark. I am the special correspondent for the Global Daily, Brock. How do you respond to the criticism and accusations of neglecting human life after terminating your medical collaboration with the military?"

"You need to understand one thing," Stark pointed his finger at the male journalist. "I am not shutting down cooperation. Besides, with your small brain, you probably can't understand the difference between medical technology in the industrial field and ordinary medical technology used in hospitals..."

Although Stark looked spirited, his heavy dark circles betrayed the fact that he hasn't been sleeping well lately.

Pepper was very busy, and the smooth operation of the Stark Group relied on her entirely. Since Stark and the military fell out, he has faced various pressures from the outside world.

Like this press conference, Stark swept down with his eyes. He knew that at least half of the people here had taken money from the military. They would raise various tricky questions like Brock just did, trying to shift all the responsibility to him.

The journalist continued, "Stark Industries' enthusiasm for medical technology research and development is significantly inferior to Osborn Industries. Does this not show that you are not as concerned about the development of human medicine as the leader of Osborn Industries, or that you have no sympathy for those patients plagued by diseases?"

Stark glanced at his work permit. Well, it looks like this Eddie Brock guy is just trying to pick a fight.

"I don't want to argue with you about this issue. Regarding the matter of stopping the medical technology cooperation project, you should ask the general."

"What about Stark Industries' weapons? After these weapons are used in war, you refuse to develop more medical technologies to save those soldiers who are injured on the battlefield. Does this mean that Stark Industries is only concerned with profiting from war and disregarding civilian casualties?"

Brock spoke extremely fast, and his long paragraph came out of his mouth like a machine gun. Every angle and every question hit the nail on the head. Stark thought to himself that if he didn't have the script given to him by the military, he would truly be a genius journalist.

When someone wants to pick a fight with you, no matter what you do, you will be blamed from all angles.

The next day, the major newspapers in New York were filled with negative reports about Stark, with the scathing criticism from the gold medal journalist Brock at the Global Times being the most prominent.

Stark knew that this was the military's way of pressuring him into submission, but he knew he had to withstand the pressure, or else Pepper would be left in a helpless situation.

This recent turn of events made him think a lot about love, friendship, and family.

Iron Man never retreated, not just for his lofty ideals, but also for all the people he loved.

The military's propaganda campaign was effective, not only in suppressing Stark Industries' reputation, but also in promoting Osborn Industries. Osborn Industries was already skilled in biotech and medical technology, while Stark Industries was more focused on military technology.

This became the media's reason for attacking Stark Industries' reputation, portraying them as a heartless and evil organization, a cancer to humanity. As if the world would be completely at peace without Stark Industries.

It was impossible for these negative reports to have no impact on Stark. If they were just like gossip news, he might not have been able to bear the pressure.

The problem was that Stark himself knew that the weapons he sold had harmed many people, and not everything that the media said about Stark Industries was wrong. The company had thrived on war.

Just as Stark had emerged from that extreme negativity, he fell into depression once again.

Meanwhile, during Peter's sewer exploration, he once again discovered signs of human activity in the sewer.

Since he had discovered something last time, Peter had been paying close attention, carefully inspecting every maintenance point he came across. He then found that this sewer monster not only lived in that one location, but seemed to be roaming the sewer every day, leaving traces in five or six maintenance points in the same block.

Following these traces, Peter began to approach the truth. He guessed that this monster must have a real base at one of the intersections of these activity traces.

As the sewer map became more and more complete, Peter finally found the possible intersection. It was near a water reservoir in the sewer, where four paths extended, each corresponding to a block with activity traces. The monster had probably built a base there and established temporary bases in other blocks.

This wasn't surprising, not everyone had the physical stamina of Spider-Man, who could run half the city's sewers in a day.

The sewer was large, the road was long, and there were no manhole covers that led to the surface near the water reservoir. He had to establish a resting point between the manhole cover and the reservoir, or he would never be able to walk such a long distance.

Peter quickly realized this point, which indicated that the mysterious figure lurking in the sewers was likely just an ordinary person. He wouldn't be able to walk several kilometers in such a damp and dark sewer, which is why he had set up multiple restrooms in the maze-like sewer system.

This gave Peter confidence, because if the person on the other side was just an ordinary person caught off guard, he would surely be able to capture him.

One night, Peter sneaked into the hideout in the reservoir. He knew that the mysterious figure wouldn't be here at this time, so he pried open the door of the maintenance station near the reservoir.

Upon entering the maintenance station, Peter was shocked. It was filled with bottles and jars, as well as some rudimentary equipment.

Peter picked up one of the bottles and took a glance. He realized that it contained some biological tissue samples. He wondered who this person was and why they were conducting experiments here.

He stepped over the scattered boxes on the ground and continued to move forward, but it got even worse inside. There were many biological specimens that looked particularly terrifying under the dim lights.

It was like a mad scientist's lair.

This person was cautious. Besides the experimental materials, there were no data or texts left behind. Peter searched around but couldn't find any relevant identity information.

A mad scientist conducting biological experiments in the New York sewers? A wicked image gradually formed in Peter's mind. (XD)

He couldn't let this continue. Peter thought that although the New York sewers were not often visited by people, they were still a lifeline for New York. If someone dumped dangerous experimental waste here, the entire New York could be at risk.

Peter thought to himself as he walked to the door, picked up the cardboard boxes stacked high at the entrance, which were relatively dry, tore them up, lit a fire, and planned to burn down this stronghold.

Although the sewer was damp, the maintenance station was still relatively dry. Once the fire was lit, the whole room quickly filled with black smoke. Peter closed the maintenance station door and watched as the fire engulfed all the experimental equipment inside.

He breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he discovered this early on. Once this mad scientist really developed some poison or gas, it would be too late.

Peter, who came out of the sewer, was still somewhat uneasy. Although he destroyed one stronghold, this mad scientist might have other bases. He had to keep an eye on this place these days and try to catch him if possible.

In the following days, Peter interned at Stark Industries during the day and frequented the sewer at night. Since that stronghold was destroyed, all traces of life seemed to have disappeared from the sewer.

It seemed that the crazy villain had given up.

Peter felt somewhat relieved. Recently, his internship was not going well either. He found that Mr. Stark was very negative. He didn't even do experiments anymore, just smoked cigarettes and drank all day. Sometimes he drank until he was drunk and passed out on the laboratory floor. Peter had to help him up.

Peter had read negative reports about Stark, but he didn't believe a word of it. He felt that it was all black propaganda. Iron Man was a superhero who saved many people, not the devil without humanity that the media portrayed.

Peter wanted to change this situation, but he didn't have a good way. He was not very good at these things. He didn't even dare to make a phone call to question those reports. So he came to the Psychological Clinic again. He felt that Dr. Schiller must have a way to turn public opinion around.

Schiller had been busy finding food for the symbiote recently.

When Peter arrived at the Psychological Clinic, Schiller was using bandages to wrap Pikachu's wound. Pikachu was jumping around on the kitchen counter while Schiller was cooking. Its tail was caught in the pot and a large clump of hair was burnt off. It was now lying pitifully on the table for Schiller to treat.

Peter said, "Hey, am I bothering you? Then I can come back tomorrow..."

"It's okay, come in. I don't have anything important to do now."

Peter walked in and rubbed Pikachu's face fiercely. Pikachu wrinkled its nose and tried to dodge, but its tail was still held by Schiller. When it jumped to the side, its tail was jerked back, and it fell on the table, knocking over a pile of cups.

"Behave," Schiller said. "Otherwise, your tail will be bald forever."

Peter sat down in a chair next to him and said, "Doctor, have you read those reports lately? Those journalists can really make things up. Some of them even swear that they saw Mr. Stark selling weapons to those terrorists, vividly describing the negotiation scene."

"This is a skill that journalists rely on. If they don't have this ability, they shouldn't be in the New York journalist circle."

"But they are completely making up rumors!" Peter angrily pounded the table and said, "Mr. Stark is not that kind of person!"

"Is that so? If it's all just rumors, then Stark's attitude should be the same as yours. You should feel extremely angry for your friend being slandered, and the person facing the slander should be even more angry."

Peter choked up because what Schiller said made sense. When Thompson fabricated stories about him in school, he was almost exploding with anger, but why wasn't Mr. Stark angry? Why didn't he stand up and try to refute them?

Even he, despite being somewhat inarticulate, still tried very hard to explain those rumors to the people around him.

"Why are you so sure that what you believe in is right?" Schiller asked him.

"Because I...but I do know that the Stark I know is not like that!"

"Maybe you've only seen one side of him?"

"But..." Peter clenched his fist and said, "Doctor, isn't Mr. Stark also your friend? Do you really think he's the kind of person those reports say he is?"

Schiller shook his head and said, "The Stark in my eyes and the Stark in your eyes are likely completely different, just like how a thousand people have a thousand Hamlets in their eyes."

"The view of a thing always changes due to one's different perspectives. A bad person may see a good person as bad, while a bad person may see a bad person as good."

Peter pounded his other hand with his fist and said, "I believe those reporters and Osborn Industries are bad people seeing bad people as good people, because they're all birds of a feather, flattering each other. And those reporters see Mr. Stark as a bad person because they can't stand good people..."

"How do you define good and bad people?"

"Uh... people who do good things are good, and people who do bad things are bad?"

"What defines good and bad things?"

"At least... they have to be factual, not rumors, and they can't violate regulations... there's also morality, which needs to be followed, so that's doing good things, right?"

"Do you think you flying around over New York all day doesn't violate traffic safety laws?"

"But I did it for... okay, I think my intentions were good, and the outcome was good too, I saved people, right? So breaking a few rules shouldn't matter..."

Schiller shook his head and said, "You will eventually understand that there are no completely good or completely bad people in this world. This world is full of bad things with good intentions and outcomes, as well as good things with terrible intentions and outcomes."

Peter scratched his head and said, "I feel like you're talking in riddles."

"If you always use a simple black-and-white way of thinking to observe this world, you will eventually find that these black and white things have mixed together into a blurry gray."

"But good things are good, and bad things are bad. I just want to help more people and do more good things," Peter said.

When Peter left Schiller, his head was still a little dizzy. Schiller's metaphor of good and bad things had confused him. Peter's thinking was simple: he was a good person, so he wanted to do good things and stop bad people from doing bad things.

What couldn't be explained about this? Wasn't this a simple truth?

Peter shook his head. He thought his ideas were correct, and if everyone thought like him, the world would definitely be a better place. The reason there was so much crime was because those bad people refused to give up doing bad things. If everyone was a good person, then there would be no more crime in this world, right?

As he walked and thought, Peter looked at his watch and realized it was still early. He had already asked his internship group leader for time off, and his uncle and aunt were probably not at home.

Peter thought for a moment and decided to continue his superhero career.

Peter found the nearest manhole cover and went down. He felt that for safety's sake, he should patrol the sewer to prevent The Scientist Monster from potential dangerous behavior.

However, as soon as he entered the sewer today, Peter had a creepy feeling. This feeling was not as strong as his spider-sense, but it still made his spine tingle.

Reluctantly, he opened his backpack, put on his Spider-Man suit, and hid his backpack in a corner. He then continued to walk deeper into the sewer as Spider-Man.

The pervasive sense of danger made Spider-Man not run as fast as before, but instead walk briskly. As he approached the area where the sink in the center of the city was located, his spider-sense began to react faintly, making him feel anxious without being able to pinpoint the source of the anxiety.

After walking for a while, suddenly he heard faint hissing sounds ahead, accompanied by the friction of metal scraping against stone.

His spider-sense suddenly reacted, and Spider-Man quickly rolled to the side to dodge a piece of slate that was thrown at him.

As the debris flew, Peter looked up and saw a huge figure at the end of the dark sewer.

It was a colossal creature at least four or five meters tall. As Peter got closer, he could see in the dim light of the sewer that it was a lizard walking upright, a massive Lizard Man that almost filled the entire space of the sewer.

Spider-Man swallowed hard, realizing how small and skinny he was compared to this Lizard Man.

But obviously, this monster had already spotted him. Peter quickly started running along the walls, with the enormous Lizard Man chasing closely behind, causing the ground of the sewer to shake with each of its steps.

Lizard Man roared fiercely, grabbing various pieces of slate and throwing them at Spider-Man. Although Spider-Man was faster, he was not much faster, and more importantly, dodging those slates left and right significantly reduced his speed.

In the sewer, spider webs were not very effective, so Peter could only rely on his legs to run. However, creatures that relied on their legs to move had a weakness, which was that once their center of gravity shifted, they were prone to falling.

In an attempt to dodge a piece of slate, Peter flipped to the right, but then he was scraped by a piece of stone fragment from the left, causing his balance to shift, and he ended up rolling on the ground. The huge Lizard Man grabbed his leg and threw him away.

Peter was thrown against the wall of the sewer, coughing hard and tasting a sweet and bloody flavor in his throat.

He struggled to get up, intending to prepare himself for the upcoming battle, but suddenly the Lizard Man shook its head as if it was dazed, and then it ignored Peter and ran in another direction.

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 85 | The Good Man's War (Part 2)